How do Red wine effect your nerve system?

I believe the feel-good feeling comes from the alcohol. Do you know the effects of alcohol on the nervous system?

Could you please describe more on how alcohol effects on the nervous system?
Furthermore, alcohol can kill bacteria, would drink alcohol clean up my digestion system as well?
Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you very much for any suggestions :>

Alcohol passes directly from the digestive tract into the blood vessels. In minutes, the blood transports the alcohol to all parts of the body, including the brain.

Alcohol affects the brain’s neurons in several ways. It alters their membranes as well as their ion channels, enzymes, and receptors. Alcohol also binds directly to the receptors for acetylcholine, serotonin, GABA, and the NMDA receptors for glutamate.

<a rel="nofollow" href="https://http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_03/i_03_m/i_03_m_par/i_03_m_par_alcool.swf" target="_blank">https://http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_03/i_03_m/i_03_m_par/i_03_m_par_alcool.swf</a>
Source: [Animation] - How alcohol affects the nervous system http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_03/i_03_m/i_03_m_par/i_03_m_par_alcool.html

Click on the labels in the diagram to the right to see an animation about how alcohol affects a GABA synapse. GABA’s effect is to reduce neural activity by allowing chloride ions to enter the post-synaptic neuron. These ions have a negative electrical charge, which helps to make the neuron less excitable. This physiological effect is amplified when alcohol binds to the GABA receptor, probably because it enables the ion channel to stay open longer and thus let more Cl- ions into the cell.

The neuron’s activity would thus be further diminished, thus explaining the sedative effect of alcohol. This effect is accentuated because alcohol also reduces glutamate’s excitatory effect on NMDA receptors.

However, chronic consumption of alcohol gradually makes the NMDA receptors hypersensitive to glutamate while desensitizing the GABAergic receptors. It is this sort of adaptation that would cause the state of excitation characteristic of alcohol withdrawal.

Alcohol also helps to increase the release of dopamine, by a process that is still poorly understood but that appears to involve curtailing the activity of the enzyme that breaks dopamine down.


Some amount of alcohol will likely kill some of the microbes. If you spend some time swishing it around, then certainly - that's (one of the ways) things like listerine work (though they have other antiseptics in addition to alcohol).

I'm not sure what the minimum you'd need - standard concentration to sterilize surfaces in a lab setting is 70%, but you could probably kill most bugs at a lower concentration (again, if you spend some time swishing around). It'll be dependent on exactly what bugs are in your mouth, etc.

Another article says that drinking wine if actually beneficial to gut bacteria!

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20120524/drinking-red-wine-is-good-for-gut-bacteria

1) Red Wine is Good for Your Heart

Red wine contains resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant compound. Resveratrol also protects your heart and arteries against the effects of saturated fat in your diet, so drinking one or two glasses of red wine a day can help protect your heart and prevent cardiovascular disease.

The flavonoids and sapponins in red wine also help to protect your heart against cardiovascular disease. The alcohol in red wine, when consumed in moderation, raises your levels of "good" HDL cholesterol, helps prevent the formation of blood clots and can help to protect your arteries from the damage caused by "bad" LDL cholesterol.

2) Red Wine Contains Antioxidants

In addition to resveratrol, red wine contains a number of other antioxidants, which can slow the signs of aging and prevent a number of degenerative illnesses like type 2 diabetes. Drinking one or two glasses of red wine each day can help protect you from many of the diseases of the elderly, such as osteoporosis.

3) Red Wine Prevents Cancer

Mounting evidence suggests that drinking red wine in moderation can help prevent cancer. The many antioxidants in red wine can help prevent the oxidative damage responsible for the process of aging and for many degenerative conditions like Alzheimer's, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Guercetin, one of the many antioxidants in red wine, may help prevent lung cancer. Research has shown that resveratrol, the same red wine antioxidant that helps protect your heart, can also kill cancerous cells.

Scientists have found that resveratrol, when used in conjunction with radiation therapy, can penetrate cancerous cells and induce apoptosis. Apoptosis is a type of cell death that occurs when the cell dies, dissolves and is removed by the white cells of your immune system. Cancer researchers have been looking for a way to induce apoptosis in cancerous cells, because it's the safest way to remove unwanted cells from the body.

Resveratrol also inhibits cancerous cells' ability to remove irradiated particles, making radiation therapy more effective against cancer. Resveratrol also attacks cancerous cells and inhibits their ability to function.

4) Red Wine Prevents Tooth Decay

Red wine, even non alcoholic red wine, hardens your enamel to prevent tooth decay. Hardened enamel is more resistant to Streptococcus mutans, the bacteria which lives on your teeth and is responsible for tooth decay. The polyphenols in red wine can also prevent gum disease, and even help to treat it by reducing inflammation in the gums.
Source: http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/4-health-benefits-of-red-wine.html#b

How do Alcohol effects the chemical reaction on brain's neurons? Do chemical reaction perform better or worse with Alcohol's present?  Furthermore, if Alocohol binds directly to the receptors, do those receptors perform better or worse with Alcohol's present as well?

Red Wine Contains Antioxidants, on the other words, it helps to reduce free radicals within cells.  I would like to know on how red wine effect on communication within our nerves system? Do our nerves system perform better or worse with less free radicals?

Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks, to everyone very much for any suggestions :>

I read that it affects the dendrites of the neuron...



It damages the dendrite, but then they repair themselves.

The free radicals don't have much of a neurochemical mechanisms. They are most floating around in the bloodstream. Don't quote me on that, but I've haven't read sources that state otherwise.